Alongside Techint E&C and Tenaris in their institutional stand, the company was one of the most eye-catching exhibitors at the AOG 2023. This was the 14^th edition of the largest exhibition of the hydrocarbons industry in the region this year, and featured several panels on decarbonization, upstream and talent attraction where many of the company’s experts took part. 

Tecpetrol was present at the Argentina Oil & Gas 2023 exhibition (AOG) held from September 11 to 14, the most important event on the hydrocarbon industry calendar in the region. Tecpetrol shared the institutional stand with its sister companies Techint E&C and Tenaris, which highlighted the synergy achieved by the companies when they built the President Néstor Kirchner Gas Pipeline (GPNK) in just ten months

Visitors to the stand were invited to play an interactive game about the GPNK, the top energy infrastructure project in the region of the last few decades, enjoy the many 3D screens explaining all the processes involved, and listen to exclusive talks offering an insight into the industry. At the Young Oil & Gas exhibition, aimed especially at upcoming engineering professionals, major prizes were awarded to the winners of a quiz game.

Relevant interventions

On Monday September 11, the first item on the agenda was the workshop on “Carbon Management”. This was an expert panel on “CO₂ Capture, Use and Storage (CCUS) in the oil and gas industry”, with the participation of Hernán Milberg, Energy Transition Manager at Techint E&C and Josefina d'Hiriart, Tecpetrol’s Reservoir Geologist Expert.

Milberg discussed the three key points that make projects of this type economically viable: modularization, economies of scale and state incentives. “The projects people are trying to develop are large because when you do this at a small scale, the cost increases significantly and they’re simply not profitable,” he explained.

Josefina d'Hiriart offered a technical and analytical overview of the pros and cons of the geological storage of CO₂, (CCS). “By 2050, we should be in a position where CCS is able to mitigate 10% of emissions, as today it is only able to mitigate 0.1% of the 40 gigatonnes (GTA) emitted into the atmosphere,” she pointed out. “CCS is a technology that is critical in the race to mitigate climate change: the key is to put a price on CO₂, and do this effectively and responsibly,” she concluded, after reviewing the different configurations of the reservoirs available, implementation methodologies, global status and the role of incentives.

AOG 2023 in images: some of the main takeaways

That same day, during the Young Oil & Gas Conference, Matías Hoffmann, the Vaca Muerta Development Director, referred to the extraordinary speed at which this field has grown, from 2016 to the present, during the panel on “Upstream: Unconventional oil”, flanked by his colleagues from Shell, Capsa and Equinor. "For the company this has been a massive scale-up, as we’ve achieved some truly major milestones in a very short time, and now we are looking at several interesting projects ahead to enable us to continue increasing production," he emphasized. 

Matías highlighted the importance of the synergy offered by the Techint Group, and how it helps to accelerate growth. "At first, I was skeptical, because I come from the old school of oil professionals, but then I saw Vaca Muerta being developed like a factory and was able to appreciate how processes can be replicated many times, allowing for optimization," he added.

In panel two of the first day, dedicated to Diversity and Labor Insertion, Rodrigo Varela, Sr. Talent Manager, described how his area handles the need for new challenges. "We must recognize that young people are typically driven to seek out more challenging and faster-paced experiences than more seasoned folk, so we try to channel this through Human Resources," he said. He highlighted the development protocol underway to define actions able to guarantee young people’s career development: exposure, training and follow-up.

To close the AOG 2023 conference agenda, Ricardo Markous, CEO of Tecpetrol, participated in the “Meeting with CEOs” moderated by Ernesto Pérez Anadón, the president of the Argentine Oil and Gas Institute (IAPG). He was joined by representatives of companies operating in the Neuquén Basin, such as Horacio Turri, Executive Director E&P of Pampa Energía and Adrián Vila, Country Manager Argentina of Pluspetrol.

Markous referred to Tecpetrol's recent record in Vaca Muerta and the outlook for the future, in response to the direct question: what do they intend to do over the next ten years. "Fortín de Piedra has reached the output record of 24 million m³/day, which is more than 20% of the gas produced in Neuquén, equivalent to 67% of what Bolivia produces today, but we are limited by domestic demand, which is why we need to seek out regional markets," he said.

Markous explained that, “The Gas.Ar Plan will allow winter production levels to be maintained and offer us access to a 30% gas export quota starting in 2025. We will be maintaining our investment of 500 million dollars a year to continue our gas output levels, and will also be adding oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG),” he concluded.

The Los Toldos II Este and Sitio Parada areas will allow the company to produce some 100,000 equivalent barrels per day, between gas and oil, and in the meantime, "we are investing many hours of engineering in developing LNG, so that we can be ready when the right conditions are in place," he concluded.

With 26,000 attendees, the AOG Expo 2023, organized by the IAPG, brought together the 350 top players in the oil and gas industry, as well as 700 students from technical schools. It hosted 210 business rounds and meetings with the leading CEOs from energy companies.